IMO the comparison should be shoulder-to-shoulder, scope against scope side-by-side, to ensure the same viewing conditions. This would mean that each comparison would rank at least two scopes against each other, with a fairly clear indication of the better one.

After enough of these side-by-side rankings have been accumulated, it should be possible to get a good idea of the best choice.

Most of us can come up with two or three scopes at a time even if we hafta borrow some from others, and a shoulder-to-shoulder comparison is much better IMO than an individual scope ranking by a lot of different individuals under a lot of different viewing conditions.

The basic idea is a splendid one and I'd very much like to see it happen.
Good luck, Joe

Along the lines of JD's reasoning, perhaps the best way to do this is at various local and National Matches.  Have a "test bench" set up with a coupe of very steady scope stands and the standard "target" at 100 and perhaps 200 yards.  Each willing participant would bring his scope to the fray, mount it up, and have at least 2 or 3 folks compare them literally shoulder to shoulder.  This would eliminate a lot of the variables of conditions, shooter's eye differences, etc. etc.  Another plus for this strategy is that people bring a lot of scopes to matches anyway, varying from the cheap starter scopes to the best they can find.  One downside of all scope testing is the inconsistent quality of some brands of scopes.  An atypical sample might really skew the results higher or lower for that particular brand. 

I'll be happy to incorporate it into the next Chinquapin match program at Brushy Mtn, but it's not until June.    Meanwhile, if several interested folk want to coordinate such a project, we can plan it via PM, etc. 

BTW Shooter_1, how BIG it gets is magnification (power) how CLEARLY it shows the image is called resolution, and that's really more of what this test is about.  For instance, my old B&L zoom eyepiece needs to be cranked back to about 75-80% of its strongest magnification to get optimum resolution under most circumstances.

Froggie

I have found with the inexpensive or less expensive optics some identical models are better than others.   

So you could have a 100 dollars 20x scope that's great and another exactly the same that is not so great.

Have found the same thing to a lesser degree with high dollar stuff too. What seems to separate the good ones from not so good is customer service and warranty work.

How are you going to test that ?

Boats

Shooter 

I was at the Smallbore Silhouette nationals some years ago, Leopould had a factory rep displaying the new variable spotting scope. He had it off the line focused on the 100 Meter swinger.  Guy came up and said he was thinking about a new scope but wanted to see if it was better than his.

He set up a Unertil, old and sort of beat up from long years of use.  It was significantly better than the new Leopold, guys would look through one and then the other.  Factory rep was not happy about it.

When I say guarantee I mean the new imported scopes.  Asian manufacturers way is sell 100 and deliver 110 to cover the rejects.  They are not reparable generally and in the lower price ranges don't have much for quality control. That's the way the world is going.

I would like to have a team scope under my Xmas tree this year.  Used to use them when shooing on a pick up CG reserve team. we borrowed them and everything else from the Navy.

Boats

Jerry Liles -

Good advice.  My wife took up birding before I took up shooting single shots.  My first spotting scope was her birding scope (a Cabella 60 mm).  When I decided I needed something more, I went to the birding site you suggested and ended up with an 82 mm Nikon 20x-60x.  They recommended it highly and I am very happy with it.  Zeiss, Swarovski and Unertl team scopes may be a hair better, but for the money, I think the birders gave me a very good recommendation.

FEB

Joe

Respectfully,  If the test is not side by side it's not going to be valid.  Light conditions are so varied. Different printers paper and ink will skew it too.

Standard test could be a new dollar bill posted at standard range with scopes side by side.  You could run a number of shooters down the line of scopes and record there ability to read the serial number.

Boats

One problem I see with all this is the mount that the scopes are used on. If you fail to remove the vibration from the mount it doesn't matter how good the scope is.